HORROR TEN SPOT: My fav Aqua-Horror flicks (Part 1)

Ah, what better time of year; the weather's warming, the beaches are teeming, the bikinis are strapping up...yup, it must be summer. As such, and given the fact I happened to catch the underrated 1977 Peter Yates film THE DEEP on TV the other day, I thought why not spotlight some of the most effective aqua-horror flicks. Perhaps a tad ambitious, especially given how expansive the subgenre is, but we're not limiting ourselves to just the ocean. Oh hell no. We're talking lakes, rivers, pools, ponds, lagoons...basically any body of water that's fraught with a malefic force. Sharks, fish, monsters, crocs, aliens...nothing's off limits in this bitch. So crack a brew, slather on the sunscreen, get out the folding chair...it's time to have a little fun with some of the most memorable aqua-horror flicks!

I know I could have easily awarded a better film in the ten hole, but there's something far too irresistible about the unabashed 80s b-movie that is LEVIATHAN. Damn I love watching this flick. Sure it's an obvious nod to ALIEN, set underwater, but what's not to love about Peter Weller, Daniel Stern, Richard Crenna, Ernie Hudson and Hec Elizondo fighting to survive an aqua-mutant onslaught? For those who missed this derivative cheese-factory, the story follows a crew of deep sea miners tasked with retrieving cargo found on a Soviet shipwreck. As you might guess, they discover something far more sinister. A rapacious alien monster that systematically fells each crew member, one by one. Mad props to the late great, 3-time Oscar winning Stan Winston, whose makeup and F/X work on LEVIATHAN is far better than anything else in the film. Truly.

After garnering acclaim with his superb 2005 film WOLF CREEK, Aussie writer/director Greg Mclean followed up with the solid killer-croc film ROGUE. I'll be honest, it was a tossup between this and ALLIGATOR (1980) for reptilian supremacy, but in the end, I think ROGUE is simply a better flick. Shot in the gorgeous Australian outback, there are a couple of things that made the flick work so well for me. First, like Spielberg was forced to do with JAWS, Mclean doesn't overexpose the actual crocodile in the film. We only see the creature sparingly, which adds to the suspense and terrifying mystery of what the beast is capable of. He also uses real crocs early on in the film to let us soak in the visual, so by the time he finally does unleash the CG croc, we hardly spot and/or hang on to the artifice. Secondly, I loved how Mclean kills off one of the main characters in the film, a character you thought all along was the protagonist. It's the Marion Crane effect, a bold move I always marvel at.

Just when I thought it was impossible to surpass the jaw-dropping absurdity of LEVIATHAN, here comes Stephen Sommers' DEEP RISING to prove me wrong. Wow. Just the sheer premise is enough to make me giggle like a preteen Twi-hard. Imagine you were part of a heavily armed hijacking squad dispatched to ransack a luxury ocean liner of its jewels, only to be unceremoniously welcomed by a gaggle of giant man-eating squid creatures? F*CK THAT! Really though, what rocks so hard about DEEP RISING is the full-blown action sequences punctuated by R-rated violence. Additionally, the pacing is brisk, the creatures are gnarly to look at (thanks to Rob Bottin and his F/X team), and the tone is never too serious. I also dig how's there's a lack of discernible heroes or heroines in the film. Since we're never really obligated to root for anyone (Famke aside), part of the fun becomes anticipating when and how the next creature is gonna strike.

Co-written by Darren Aronofsky, David Twohy's 2002 film BELOW is a dizzying spin on the haunted ship paradigm. Here, it's a WWII U-boat that's taken hold by a deeply troubling ethereal spirit. Thing is, the crewmembers are never really privy of what's going on...as they are intrinsically linked to this alternate plane of existence. Actually, the first half of the film pretty much plays like a creature-feature, all signs of the vexing point toward some kind of external menace. But as the mystery slowly unravels, a far more chilling truth is revealed. As is the case with most submarine pictures, the claustrophobia is palpable in BELOW, so much so that the cabin fever element begins to wear on us the viewer as much as it does on the characters in the film. There's literally no escape. Good performances from Bruce Greenwood, Matthew Davis, Olivia Williams, Zach Galifianakis and Jason Flemying elevate BELOW to being something greater than its genre material would normally allow for.

Embroiled in the wave of cheap 50s monster movies was Jack Arnold's CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, which has gone on to inspire countless imitations and unsuccessful retreads. But here's the forerunner. In fact, Steven Spielberg has openly attributed many aspects of Arnold's film to the success of JAWS. The underwater POV shots, the suspense of keeping the creature largely unseen, the similar music, etc. Taking it further, both JAWS and CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON were both Universal productions, and in 1983, the studio opted to make JAWS 3-D over a planned BLACK LAGOON remake. The two films seem inextricably linked. Come to think of it, another high list entry on this here Top Ten owes a great deal to BLACK LAGOON, but I'll let you figure that one out tomorrow (when part 2 goes up). Originally produced in 3-D, Jean Renoir served as script doctor on the film. Not trivial enough? Ingmar Bergman used to watch this film every year on his birthday.